Mohave County sheriff’s deputies responded to a theft report Wednesday at a
home in Kingman where the four young children were spending the holiday with
their grandparents, sheriff’s spokeswoman Patricia Carter said.

“The grandparents had given the kids $10 each as a Christmas gift,” Carter
said Friday.

Later in the day, Carter said, they allowed Rick to visit her children whose
father has custody of them.

When Rick and Ruvalcaba left, the grandparents discovered they had taken $30
from the three youngest kids.

Deputies tracked the pair down walking along a nearby street and arrested them
on the unrelated charges. Rick was still carrying the $30 cash.

She told authorities that her children gave her the money so she could get a
motel room, and they could visit her there, Carter said.

“Who knows exactly how the transaction went down. The mother could have just
taken it from them or given them some sappy story,” she said. “It sounds like
she was baiting them.”

The couple won’t face charges for theft because the children’s father declined
to press charges.

Telephone numbers associated with the two suspects were disconnected. It wasn’t
clear if they had attorneys.